Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program

This is the continuation of an interview with Virgil Naylor, Sr. on March 30, 2016 by Karen Brewster, Andy Mahoney, and Rebecca Rolph at his home in Kotzebue, Alaska. In this second part of a two part interview, Virgil talks about changes in the beluga whales in Kotzebue Sounds, changes in the landfast ice, ice safety, freeze-up, and importance of understanding the weather. He also talks about stories of hunters drifting out on the ice, adapting to meet environmental change, and how science can help understand changing ice conditions.

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VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Tides over there to -- You could notice tides at Espenberg and then over at Buckland -- What they call that ? ANDY MAHONEY: Deering? REBECCA ROLPH: Oh, this one here? It’s the same one.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Everybody works over here. They make use of -- we’d be anchored out here waiting for belugas to come in and by the time they’re about ready to come in maybe sometimes and here comes the boat.

Out they go the minute they hear that motor underneath there. ANDY MAHONEY: Hm. VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: They -- out they go to the deeps. KAREN BREWSTER: Hm.

ANDY MAHONEY: So I’ve -- I’ve heard that there were two years when there were quite a few beluga caught back in ’96 and then in 2007.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Oh yeah, that was a -- that was a -- that was a big pod that came in 'cause there was so much killer whales out there.

They’re scared of killer whales.

ANDY MAHONEY: So they were chased into the Sound, you think? VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Yeah. They -- they’ll never -- ANDY MAHONEY: Huh.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: They don't care about boats or anything. They just stay out to the beach and all that. ANDY MAHONEY: Hm.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Well, they have to watch -- Like I say, every time you hunt you got to watch just like the -- When they’re hunting out there in the ice, they watch the hills over there. KAREN BREWSTER: Mm.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: The mountains. If they’re covered with that fog like deal, they -- What we call like, in Eskimo we call it nuviya. KAREN BREWSTER: Nuviya. VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Nuviya, yeah.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Yeah. Maybe I think there’s a chart. You actually can drive trucks through or whatever. There’s -- if you go to -- probably City (City of Kotzebue office) or one of those guys. KAREN BREWSTER: Yeah.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Well, a lot of it is coming in, like I say, with young ice coming in. Fall time, west wind. KAREN BREWSTER: Mm-hm.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: It breaks it up all the time and goes out -- when it calms down, it goes out.

That’s how come we can’t freeze-up much over here no more. KAREN BREWSTER: Mm-hm.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: That tide coming in and just -- with a -- with a storm from west wind. And after that, piles up and takes it out again and it's continuous now. KAREN BREWSTER: Yeah. VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Like a --

ANDY MAHONEY: So back in the day, it would have come in, maybe on a west wind, but then stayed? When the wind changed, it didn’t go back out? VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Yeah, yeah.

KAREN BREWSTER: Does it take longer for the ice to freeze up than it used to?

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Yeah. Very much. Very. Like I say, it’s open over here on November. KAREN BREWSTER: Yeah.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: First part of December, it’s open here. They’re still hunting out here with boats. ANDY MAHONEY: Hm.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Never used to have that. Like I say before, I used to drive a truck across in November. ANDY MAHONEY: Hm. VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Yeah. KAREN BREWSTER: Yeah.

REBECCA ROLPH: So will it freeze and then go out -- You said it freezes and then goes out again. VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Yeah. REBECCA ROLPH: And sometimes -- VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Yeah. Yeah.

REBECCA ROLPH: And it didn’t used to do that as much?

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: In the -- in the channel, yeah. Over here. Yeah. It affects the channel. Mm-hm.

ANDY MAHONEY: So you -- you -- you said you hunt by the seasons according to the -- the animals. VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Mm-hm.

ANDY MAHONEY: So if -- if the ice formed later and later in the year so that you could all -- basically all -- put a boat out any time of year, do you think you would keep fishing and hunting from the boat all year round? Or -- or would you -- VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: No. No.

KAREN BREWSTER: Yeah -- yeah, so you would -- if you could -- If you couldn’t get out on the ice to hunt natchiq in the wintertime, it’s -- you don’t -- but if people couldn’t get out to hunt natchiq in the wintertime then what would happen?

REBECCA ROLPH: I know, well, you guys are all asking the same questions that I was going to ask.

KAREN BREWSTER: Oh, I know what I was going to ask was -- because Andy and Becca do research and the physics of the ice and the -- what’s happening with the ice from the science side. VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Mm. Mm-hm.

KAREN BREWSTER: I’m wondering, are there things that they could research that would be helpful to you as a hunter? Things --

Questions you have that they might be able to help answer from science? VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Hm.

REBECCA ROLPH: You mentioned before that -- why is the tides happening now when it didn’t used to before. You said you wanted to know why that was happening.

VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Later on it start being January, February. January, February for a while. Now, February, March used to be good, now it’s 19 below.

If you can research with the records how much change there is ever since. You could tell how -- what’s the difference on temperature change. REBECCA ROLPH: Yeah. ANDY MAHONEY: Hm. VIRGIL NAYLOR, SR.: Yeah.